Current location in this text. Enter a Perseus citation to go to another section or work. Full search
options are on the right side and top of the page.

[19]

After the island1 situated opposite the mouth of the
Dnieper, in sailing towards the east, we arrive at the cape of
the Course of Achilles.2 The district is quite bare, notwithstanding that it is termed a wood. It is sacred to Achilles.
Then we arrive at the Course of Achilles, a low peninsula;
for it is a certain tongue of land about a thousand stadia in
length, running out towards the east, and its width is but two
stadia3 in the broadest part, and but four plethra4 in the narrowest. It is distant from the main-land, which runs out on
both sides of the neck, about 60 stadia. It is sandy, but
water is obtainable by digging. About the midst of the
Course of Achilles5 is the neck of the isthmus [joining it to
the main-land]. It is about 40 stadia in breadth, and terminates in a headland which they call Tamyraca.6 This possesses
an anchorage opposite the main-land. Next comes the Gulf
Carcinites, which is of considerable extent, reaching towards
the north7 about 1000 stadia. Some affirm that it is three
times that distance to the head of the gulf . . . . . . . . are
called Taphrii. They likewise call the Gulf Carcinites the
Gulf Tamyraca, the same as the headland.

5 The Dromos Achillis is pretty well laid down in D'Anville's Orbis
Romani Pars Orientalis, 1764, but at present it presents a very different
appearance.

6 There is a note by Gossellin in the French translation to the following
effect. The western part of this strip of land is known as the Island of
Tendra, because it is separated by a cut. The eastern part of the strip
is called Djarilgatch. The entire length of the tongue of land is 800
Olympic stadia, the two extremities are a little farther from the mainland than Strabo says, and the isthmus is about 50 Olympic stadia broad.
D'Anville has run this isthmus through the tongue of land, and jutting
out into the sea, so as to form a cape, which he also calls Tendra, and
which would answer to the Tamyraca of Strabo. In the most recent
maps there is no trace of this cape, but we see the port of which Strabo
speaks. As these tongues of land are composed of a shifting sand, they
may experience alterations of form and variations of extent.

7 Gossellin observes that the direction of the Gulf Carcinites, or Gulf of
Perecop, is from west to east, with a slight inclination towards the north,
on arriving from the south. Its northern shore commences at the isthmus
of the Course of Achilles, and would measure about 1000 Olympic stadia
if we were to follow all the sinuosities.

The Geography of Strabo. Literally translated, with notes, in three volumes. London. George Bell & Sons. 1903.

An XML version of this text is available for download,
with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted
changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.